This invention relates generally to gasification systems, and more specifically to a radiant cooler.
At least some known gasification systems are integrated with at least one power-producing turbine system. For example, at least some known gasifiers convert a mixture of fuel, air or oxygen, and/or steam into an output of partially combusted gas, sometimes referred to as “syngas.” The hot syngas may be supplied to a combustor of a gas turbine engine, which powers a generator that supplies electrical power to a power grid. Exhaust from at least some known gas turbine engines is supplied to a heat recovery steam generator that generates steam for driving a steam turbine. Power generated by the steam turbine also drives an electrical generator that provides electrical power to the power grid.
At least some known gasification systems use a separate gasifier that, in combination with the syngas cooler, facilitates gasifying feedstocks, recovering heat, and removing solids from the syngas to make the syngas more useable by other systems. Further, at least some known syngas coolers include a plurality of platens and a tube wall that defines a heat exchange surface area that facilitates transferring heat from the flow of syngas to a heat transfer fluid channeled within each platen and/or the tube wall. The plurality of platens in such syngas coolers are substantially circumscribed by the tube wall, which is further surrounded by a cooler vessel shell. Known tube walls are designed to be gas-tight to retain syngas within the tube wall such that syngas contacts the tube wall rather than the cooler vessel shell.
At least some known syngas coolers include a plurality of downcomers that extend generally axially within a space defined by the tube wall and the vessel shell. As a result, the diameter of the vessel shell of such coolers is sized to accommodate the tube wall and the plurality of downcomers. The vessel shell diameter is proportional to the cost of the syngas cooler and the heat exchange surface area of the tube wall. As such, reducing the vessel shell diameter reduces an overall size and cost of the syngas cooler, however, the heat exchange surface area of the tube wall is also facilitated to be reduced as a result.